Apr. 5, 2013

Rosendale Fire Department battles flames in a house at 200 N. Main St. in Rosendale on Friday afternoon. An unidentified man's body was recovered from the house. / Patrick Flood / The Reporter Media

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ROSENDALE - Authorities and residents of this tiny community in western Fond du Lac County are searching for answers tonight after a man apparently died inside his home after setting up explosives and starting the home on fire.

The 52-year-old Rosendale man, described by neighbors as a friendly man who drove a van that transported disabled veterans, was found inside the home after 7 p.m. By 8:30 p.m. detectives were still waiting to get inside the home to begin the investigation.

The incident began about 3:15 p.m. when the man’s daughter returned from Laconia High School to the family’s two-story home at 200 N. Main St. and found smoke inside the residence.

The first officers at the home noticed an odor of gasoline and quickly exited the home, said Fond du Lac County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Mark Strand. They also noticed what appeared to be fuses running from the home.

Concerned the man may try to harm first responders, officers and firefighters backed away from the home, set up a perimeter, closed the road and evacuated nearby residents.

Officers used a robotic camera operated by remote control to “look” inside the home. They found several gas cans outside the home and a large fuse that stretched from the home to a large pile of combustibles in the garage. Authorities say it appears the combustibles were large fireworks.

When firefighters did approach the home to begin dousing the flames with water, they did so under guard of heavily armed sheriff's deputies.

Dallas Pinch, a student at Laconia High School, said he and his father are good friends with the man found inside the home and one of his daughters.

“It surprises me,” he said Friday night while standing outside Bluemke’s Hardware Store, watching the events of the day unfold in this village of about 1,000 people.

“I saw (the deceased) this morning and he waved,” Pinch said. “My dad went to school with him, he knew him pretty well.”

“They seemed like a nice family,” said Lilly Gray, who lives across the street from the home with her boyfriend, Derek Curry. “But I guess you never know what is really going on.”

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Gray and Curry were among residents in the immediate area who were evacuated by officials who feared the combustibles found at the home would cause an explosion.

Officials also closed Highway 26 from Highway 23 to the Winnebago County line.

Fire departments from several area departments were called to the scene to provide mutual aid.

They waited to fight the smoke and flames as officials called in Alliant Energy to cut power to the home and officers determined the danger of an explosion or risks to officer and firefighter personal safety had passed.

Although Sheriff’s Office SWAT team negotiators were brought in, officers never made contact with the man inside the home.

“He must have been planning this for awhile,” Strand said of the layout of explosives, fuses, gas cans and other items found in and around the home.

The motive for the incident was not determined this evening.

“I’m just shocked,” said Katie Thull, a Rosendale resident who stood out in the cold watching firefighters begin to spray water on the smoke and flames billowing from the home.

“This is a small community,” she said. “When something happens to someone here, it affects all of us.”

The incident is being investigated by the Fond du Lac County Sheriff's Office and the State fire Marshals Office.